A tail the width of a small car slammed into Li Mei's body, sending her flying into the nearby cliff wall. They led the verasus into a narrow ravine to minimize the effect of its size advantage, but the damn thing dug its claws into the rock face to manuever its gargantuan form! Sharp teeth the length of swords were about to bite the girl in half when Bao flung himself bodily into the creature's face, clawing at its sensitive eyes and nostrils and hissing like the world's most enraged housecat.

The verasus roared in pain and fury, shaking its head but failing to loosen the fera's tenacious grip. Finally it slammed its head against the rock walls and Bao collapsed with a pitiful whimper amongst a pile of fresh rubble. Blood pooled from beneath the stones, bright scarlet that seemed to drain the color from everything else in contrast, Bao's gold eyes growing dim and gray-

Li Mei awoke with a pained gasp, her body drenched in cold sweat. She hurriedly checked the fera curled up next to her, exhaling a relieved sigh when she saw his flanks rise and fall in a shallow but steady rhythm.

It took longer than expected for the paralytic venom to show any effect on the huge verasus, and the results of her miscalculations were obvious. Li Mei got away with broken ribs, a concussion and countless different gashes on her body, but poor Bao...

His slender forelegs were shattered along with every one of his ribs - only the grace of the heavens saved his lungs from being punctured. An enormous gash along his left side exposed bone, tendon, and even some organs to the air. It was starting to heal with the help of an herbal paste, but it required careful tending to make sure it didn't fester. Several smaller wounds covered his body, scratches and bite marks alike, but none were as serious as the gash or the broken bones.

The emotions flickering in the depths of the girl's mauve eyes were complicated, conflicted. No one had ever gotten themselves hurt for her sake before. Seeing him so badly injured, possibly dead, and all the blood...

She didn't like that feeling. Li Mei had been so proud of their progress, but that pride was swept away in a single breath. She clenched her fists, gritting her teeth so hard her jaw ached. 'I'm still too damned weak!'

They spent several days hiding in a root network recovering enough strength to return home, and they were the longest days of her life. Once Bao no longer seemed ready to keel over at the flutter of an eyelash, she carefully tied him to her back with vines and carried him up the mountain, one painful inch at a time. It took another week before he showed any signs of improvement. He still spent more time asleep than awake, but he was able to eat solid food again at least.

After changing the fera's makeshift bandages and making sure he was covered with a blanket, Li Mei limped her way out of their cave.

In the past four months they'd worked on making their cave more comfortable. The path from the cave to the peak was widened, and Li Mei started transplanting several herbs and edible plants to the mountain top. Since the mountain was rocky and didn't have fertile soil, she'd had to work hard collecting dirt and loam from the forest and layering it atop the peak. The result was a grassy garden, with leafy berry bushes and fragrant herbs, creating a relaxing atmosphere for peaceful contemplation or training sessions.

Moonlight bathed the peak with silver light in no way diminished by the chromatic pillars of glowing crystals and their halos of rainbow light. Li Mei inched her way toward her way up the path and through the garden, taking slow deep breaths to offset the pain in her ribs. She focused on her feet, one careful step at a time, and so she didn't notice the figure sitting on her favorite rock until she nearly tripped over his outstretched leg.

Li Mei froze.

Long slender legs wearing black slacks, incredibly shiny shoes on his feet, and the faint scent of cigarette smoke lingering in the cool night air.

Her stomach dropped and tried to bury itself in the soil beneath her feet. She couldn't even bring herself to look up, her pupils constricting the size of needle points as panic made her heart slam an awkward rhythm in her aching chest.

"I was going to wait here and enjoy this lovely garden until you woke up, but I must confess you're a bit earlier than I expected." The man's heavily accented drawl sounded amused. He tossed a small burlap bag to the ground near her feet, then placed a cigarette between his thin lips. "I brought you a peace offering. Is it to your liking?"

They stood in silence, until the thick scent of blood reached Li Mei's nose. Her eyes flicked over to the bag, but Scan only described the material of the container and not the contents. When the man continued to wait in silence, she awkwardly grabbed the surprisingly heavy bag and peeked inside.

She stared at the contents for a long moment before she placed the bag back on the ground and pushed it away with her foot. An indescribable mixture of disgust and disappointment colored her face. The man chuckled and lit his cigarette with a flame dancing on the end of his finger. "I wanted to show my sincerity. May we talk?"

Li Mei hesitated before nodding, taking a seat on a low boulder opposite her currently occupied favorite spot. Delivering Vigen's decapitated head in a bag certainly earned him a conversation.

He was handsome, and looked younger than 30. She wasn't expecting that. Heavy winged eyebrows above a piercing gaze as deep and dark as the night sky, short black hair with a tendency to fall in his face, and a tall, slender figure in simple yet flattering clothes.

Yet despite how delicate and pretty he looked...

Li Mei had learned to modify what information popped up in Scan's tooltip, depending on any specifics she wanted to know and what was relevant to her at the time, and a quick check of the man's base stats made her skin crawl.

-----

[Faust]

Xian (Disguised as Human)

Male

Rank 7 (23%)

-----

Rank 7.

Rank 7!

Li Mei was only 53% of the way through Rank 0! Bao was 58%! Between the two of them they could hunt simple Rank 1 beasts, but a Rank 2 almost demolished them if not for some fortuitous circumstances and clever resourcefulness. Just how strong would a Rank 7 be?! If he blinked the wrong way she'd fall over dead!

Somehow that helped her to calm down. If he wanted her dead or recaptured, it wouldn't require any effort on his part. Clearly finding her wasn't an issue. And he even delivered the head of the man 44 hated most. 'So what does someone with a Rank 7 rating want with a Rank 0 runaway slave kid like me?'

Loosening the collar of his shirt, Faust blew a ring of smoke into the air before leaning back in a relaxed pose. "We've never met officially, but you recognize me. Have you heard my voice before?" Li Mei found herself nodding - she also recognized his legs, but that was awkward to point out. "You're intelligent so I'll do you the courtesy of being candid. I am responsible for bringing you to the estate, though Vigen's treatment of you afterward was contrary to my original intentions. I've been very busy the past 10 years which stopped me from following up on your care, trusting Vigen was doing his job. He was not. He has been punished. For the record, I do not count decapitation as part of his punishment - that was merely an incidental result."

Li Mei shivered, but managed to find her voice at last. "I wanted to do it myself."

The man nodded. "Vengeance isn't satisfying when enacted through someone else's hands, but it would have taken you a very long time to reach an appropriate level of strength to take down Vigen."

"I had time."

"Less than you think, which is why I'm here." Faust blew out a mouthful of smoke, crossing one leg over the other. "I am known as Adalrich Agilo to the people of the estate, but that is not my name any more than 44 is yours. Have you picked a proper name for yourself yet?"

"Li Mei."

"Very well, and you may call me Faust. Li Mei, do you want to get stronger?"